All-woman planet with no men

Syed Akbar

Hyderabad: Imagine an all-woman planet where there are no men. And this is going to happen, if scientists have their say.

British scientists have already produced what they term, "female sperm", to do away with the role of man in reproduction. If the female sperm works well, women will be able to reproduce children without the help of man. But, all the offspring they produce will be girls. The female sperm will not be able to produce boys since it lack the "Y" or the male sex chromosome.

It will also help lesbian couples to have their children, again all girls. The Earth will then become a planet of women and the male species will become extinct. In case gay men too decide to benefit from the research, they can have their own "eggs" produced from their stem cells and fertilised artificially. They will then be able to produce children without the help of women. But unlike in the case of women, gay men will be able to produce both boys and girls.

City scientists, however, take the research of British scientists with a pinch of salt. "The British scientists have taken stem cells from a woman's bone marrow and then cultivated them in chemical soup to make them female sperm cells. Stem cells have the capacity to turn into any part of the body. If they use the bone marrow of a woman for sperm production, then the offspring will be girls. If the bone marrow of a man is used, the children can both be boys and girls," says senior geneticist and stem cell researcher Dr MN Khaja.

"It is wrong to say that men may not be required to create babies," points out Dr Khaja. Stem cell technology can do wonders. "Using the technology, we can argue that women may not be required to produce babies. If female sperm could be produced artificially, male eggs could also be made in laboratory. The stem cell research should be utilised to improve the health of people and not to procreate clones with unknown genetic complications."

Geneticists express serious concern over artificial production of "female sperm" from the bone marrow of woman. They say it will not only lead to an all-woman Earth upsetting the natural balance, but will also cause a plethora of genetic diseases, which are mostly incurable. There will also be no genetic lineage, since it is the male sperm or the Y chromosome that is responsible for family lineage.

As the British scientists apply for permission to carry out their work to the next stage, Indian infertility experts say it's better to take the male stem cells to generate sperm for in vitro fertilisation. "We have done pioneering research on production of sperm tissue from stem cells in test tube. The stems cells of an infertile person can be taken and processed to become sperm. The sperm can then be used for artificial fertilisation of the egg of his wife. The child can either be male or female. This way we can maintain the genetic lineage without tampering with the natural laws," argues senior in vitro expert Dr Roya Rozati.

She is also working on developing methods to inject artificially produced sperm into the testes of infertile men, so that they could conceive naturally. This will eliminate the need for in vitro or test tube fertilisation for couples with male infertility problems.

The British research on stem cells led by Prof Karim Nayernia centred around mice. According to him, "mature sperm capable of fertilising eggs may take three more years."

The research paves the way for a woman to produce her own sperm through artificial means. She then can use the artificially produced sperm to fertilise the naturally formed eggs in her womb. But city scientists warn that such children will have massive genetic complications. The children born may be abnormal and lead a miserable life.

People who sit for long hours in office and those who travel long distances quite frequently are more susceptible to impotency

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: Sedentary employees and frequent travellers beware! According to a research study by a team of city doctors, people who sit for long hours in office and those who travel long distances quite frequently are more susceptible to impotency or loss of sexual vigour than the people on the move.
The study conducted by the Assisted Conception Services Unit of Mahavir Hospital and Research Centre and the Institute of Genetics and Hospital for Genetic Diseases revealed that the sperm count had come down by about 45 per cent in sedentary employees (47.9 mill/ml) as compared with the control group (80.75 mill/ml). In case of frequent travellers the count recorded was 66.23 mill/ml.
The doctors took three groups of men for the study - a controlled group with just 0.5 hrs of mean seated hours in travel per day, people who travel for 4.25 hrs a day and sedentary employees with sit in offices for 7.9 hrs a day on an average. The normal morphology of semen was 57.25 per cent in the control group, 39.75 in long distance travellers and 38.67 in sedentary workers. The hypo-osmotic swelling test showed a percentage of 56, 54 and 50 in these groups respectively.
"Thermo-regulation in testis is important for normal development and maturation of spermatozoa. Semen is produced at a temperature lower than that of the normal body temperature. Even slight elevations in testicular temperature may have a profound impact on sperm quantity, quality and its fertilising potential. Those who remain seated for long hours have increased scrotal temperature and hence defect in semen quality", says fertility expert Roya Roazati who conducted the research study along with eminent geneticist PP Reddy and Rubina Mujtaba.
Frequent long distance travellers and sedentary workers showed significant impairment in spermatogenesis, percentage sperm motility and normal morphology, particularly sperm head morphology. The sperm quality of sedentary employees is worse than that of the long distance travellers as the former spend more hours in chairs. However, the impact of environmental pollution is more on travellers than on sedentary employees.
According to her, the increased testicular temperatures, a result of prolonged seating, may be a factor directly responsible for the deterioration of semen quality and consequently infertility.
Testis is more vulnerable to heat than any other part of the body. The importance of precise thermo-regulation of the testis is evidenced by the fact that even slight elevations in scrotal temperature are associatied with infertility.
"Long distance sedentary travellers, travelling for more than 200 km or more than three hours a day and sedentary workers spending more than six hours a day seated at work could be victims of impotency", the study pointed out.
The doctors took a detailed history of couples attending the Assisted Conception Services Unit and those couples with a male factor problem but normal female profile. Normospermic men with no evidence of male factor infertility, a non sedentary occupation and time lesser than one hour in travel were taken as controls. All men underwent a thorough clinical evaluation by an urologist to rule out any associated clinical pathology. In all 45 cases were studies and semen samples were analysed after a prescribed three day period of abstinence, for sperm count, motility, morphology, vitality, hypo-osmotic swelling test and the presence of immature germ cells as part of the investigation into their infertility.

Men exposed to industrial fumes are at risk of losing their reproductive strength

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: Men exposed to industrial fumes are at risk of losing their reproductive strength with the quality and count of their sperm being significantly affected.
According to a joint research study by city-based Institute of Genetics, Mahavir Hospital, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and Owaisi Hospital and Research Centre, men exposed to industrial fumes containing nickel and chromium, showed decreased vitality and significantly higher percentage of defects in sperm.
The study, however, found that smoking did not show any effect on semen parameters in industrial workers and welders as also in the control group. Though there was no significant difference in the volume of ejaculated semen of men exposed to fumes and those in the control group, the former had a lower sperm count (almost half), rapid linear progressive motility, and slow progressive motility when compared to control men.
The percentage of normal sperm was also low in the exposed group. They also showed higher percentage of defects in the head and mid-piece of sperm.
Research team member Dr Roya Rozati points out that men exposed to nickel and chromium had a large number of morphologically abnormal spermatozoa in their ejaculates. The levels of these metals in blood was also higher than that of the control group.
"There was a significant positive correlation between the percentage of tail defects and blood nickel and chromium concentration in male welders. Sperm vitality decreased with increasing chromium concentration", Dr Roya told this correspondent.
The study covered 57 employees of an industrial welding plant. The workers have been exposed to two to 21 years to welding fumes. The control group also consisted of 57 subjects, not exposed to known harmful chemicals. Forty-five per cent of the men in the study were smokers and 32 were alcohol consumers. Sperm samples were obtained after a three-day period of sexual abstinence.
Heavy metals nickel and chromium are widely distributed in the work place. Nickel is extensively used in the plating industry, sometimes in combination with other metals. It is also used in electroplating, welding, flame cutting, flame spraying, and mould making. Nickel is also used in the manufacture of jewellery, coinage, cutlery, cooking utensils and dental or surgical prostheses. Chromium is used in metallurgy, chrome plating, welding, chemical industry, textile manufacture, wood preservation, photography and photoengraving, refractory industry and cooling system.
Nickel crosses the placental barrier, directly affecting the developing embryo or foetus in experimental animals. Spermatotoxic effects of nickel in mice have also been observed.

Link between infertility and female genital tuberculosis

By Syed Akbar

Hyderabad, July 5: A team of city doctors has established a link between infertility and female genital tuberculosis, which is fast spreading in South India after lying low for many years.

The team has also found easy diagnostic methods to detect genital tuberculosis in women with 100 per cent accuracy. Currently diagnosing female genital tuberculosis is nothing short of a Herculean task. In many countries diagnosis is mainly limited to clinical suspicion based on symptoms. The problem is further compounded as abdominal and vaginal examinations reveal nothing.

Dr Roya Rozati, Dr Sreenivasagari Roopa and Dr Cheruvu Naga Rajashwari of the department of reproductive medicine at Mahavir Hospital and Research Centre have not only solved the diagnosis problem by identifying mycobacterial DNA tests through polymerase chain reaction but also established a link between the disease and infertility.

Genital tuberculosis is an important cause of infertility, more so in endemic zones such as South India. The proportion of extra-pulmonary TB is increasing down the Vindhyas and currently stands slightly higher than smear-positive pulmonary TB. Effective chemotherapy had reduced all forms of TB including FGTB until the HIV epidemic reversed the trend over the last decade.

However, the true epidemiology of this disease remains unknown due to lack of highly sensitive and specific tests. Genital tuberculosis not only causes tubal obstruction and dysfunction but also impairs implantation due to endometrial involvement and ovulatory failure from ovarian involvement.

The prevalence of FGTB in infertility clinics shows marked variations in different countries ranging between 15 and 25 per cent. In India in 80 to 90 per cent of cases, FGTB affects young women between 18 and 38 years of age, besides being an important cause of infertility.

"A high erythrocyte sedimentation rate and a positive mantoux test are non-specific. AFB staining is not sensitive enough and both culdoscopy and laparascopy carry a significant risk of bowel injury. Surgery is disadvantageous as it is highly invasive and carries a risk of activating silent infection. Only histopathological evidence in biopsy of premenstrual endometrial tissue or demonstration of tubercle bacilli in culture of menstrual blood or endometrial curetting can provide diagnosis with certainty," says Dr Roya Rozati.

The doctors investigated biopsy or curettage samples from 65 women clinically suspected to have genital tuberculosis for mycobacterium.

Genital tuberculosis is often a secondary complication as a result of reactivation of a silent bacillemia, primarily from lungs, affecting most commonly the fallopian tubes, ovaries, cervix, endometrium and vagina and vulva, and in some instances also from kidney and intestines.

"Direct inoculation of tubercle bacilli can also take place over vulva or vagina during sexual intercourse with a partner suffering from tuberculous lesions of genitalia," she said.